Sports News-May 29, 2013

The Indiana Pacers refuse to be pushovers. The Eastern Conference finals are tied at two games apiece after the Pacers closed on a 16-6 run to beat the Miami Heat 99-92. The late spurt came after the Heat put together a 14-2 run to take an 86-83 lead. Roy Hibbert had 23 points and twelve rebounds, while Lance Stephenson added 20 points. Hibbert helped the Pacers outrebound the Heat 49-30 and outscore Miami in the paint 50-32. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to miss 25 of 39 shots. James had a game-high 24 points before fouling out with 56 seconds left. Miami hosts Game Five tomorrow.

The Atlanta Hawks have named longtime Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer as head coach. General manager Danny Ferry called on his past experience with the Spurs to select Budenholzer yesterday to replace Larry Drew as coach. Drew's contract expires in June following three seasons as coach. Budenholzer spent the last 17 seasons as an assistant with the Spurts, including the last six years as the top assistant for coach Gregg Popovich. The Hawks say Budenholzer will continue serving as the Spurs top assistant until the conclusion of the NBA finals. The Spurs completed a four-game sweep of Memphis in the Western Conference finals on Monday. Ferry came to the Hawks last year after two years as vice president of basketball operations for the Spurs.

Florida authorities say Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew has been accused in a complaint of hitting someone at a St. Augustine restaurant, but that police have not brought criminal charges. St. Augustine police said in a press release yesterday that the alleged victim filed a misdemeanor battery complaint following a Sunday night altercation at the Conch House Restaurant and Marina. Jones-Drew wasn't taken into police custody. Police spokesman Mark Samson says the department has spoken with Jones-Drew's attorney, and the player has agreed to speak with detectives. Police say Jones-Drew maintains his innocence. The Jaguars said in a statement yesterday they were aware of the situation but had no comment. The 28-year-old Jones-Drew, who attended UCLA, has played seven seasons with the Jaguars. The two-time Pro Bowler has 1,570 rushes for 7,268 yards and 63 touchdowns, and 292 receptions for 2,559 yards and eleven touchdowns.

A Rutgers University dean who took part in the search for a new athletic director said yesterday that she is "mystified" and "dumbfounded" that a search firm didn't find red flags about Julie Hermann, who was chosen for the job. Susan Schurman says that when Rutgers did a background check during her hiring, the school appeared to go back to kindergarten. Schurman says she had limited involvement in the hiring of Hermann because Schurman was out of the country during much of the search. Hermann was involved in a discrimination lawsuit while an administrator at Louisville, where an assistant track coach said she was fired for complaining about discriminatory treatment. Discussions also continue about Hermann's alleged treatment of players while she was a volleyball coach at Tennessee in the 1990s. Hermann played volleyball at Nebraska in the 1980s and is a native of Nebraska City.

American Jack Sock made a successful French Open debut yesterday while wearing initials on his shoes in honor of two friends who died recently in separate car accidents. Sock, a 20-year-old from Lincoln, beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-2, 7-5. One of the crash victims was a high school teammate, and the other was a friend he played with in juniors tournaments. Ranked 118th, Sock reached the main draw by winning three matches in qualifying. He has an unimpressive record on the green clay common in the United States but said Europe's red clay is different, and he likes it better. Sock, who next plays twelfth-seeded Tommy Haas, made his first Grand Slam splash last August at the United States Open, where he won two matches.

A seven-year-old cancer patient who had a trading card issued in his honor after he ran roughshod over the Nebraska Cornhuskers has found new buyers for cards set aside for his charity. Among those stepping up: actor James Denton, who was on "Desperate Housewives." Video of Jack Hoffman's run during Nebraska's spring football game was an Internet hit. The Upper Deck Co. issued a card for Jack, with signed blow-ups for his foundation to auction off. The winning bidder for the first card declined to pay, saying he hadn't authorized the $6,100 bid. Jack's father, Andy Hoffman, says news coverage prompted three buyers to offer $10,000 each for a signed card. Denton lives in suburban Minneapolis, and the Hoffmans traveled there to meet him yesterday. They are from Atkinson.

Nebraska's largest and fastest growing athletic department is growing again. Midland University officials announced yesterday the addition of Men's and Women's Ice Hockey programs, pushing the number of varsity sports on the campus to 27. The Sidner Ice Arena will serve as the home for both programs in practice and in competition. With recruiting of the first teams set to get underway this fall, an announcement of a coaching search is expected in the near future.